George Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon

The Right Honourable The Earl of Clarendon KG PC
File:George Herbert Hyde Villiers in October of 1899.jpg
5th Governor-General of South Africa
In office 26 January 1931 – 5 April 1937
Monarch	George V Edward VIII George VI
Preceded by	The Earl of Athlone
Succeeded by	Sir Patrick Duncan
Personal details
Born	George Herbert Hyde Villiers 7 June 1877
Died
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Adeline Verena Isabel Cocks
Occupation	Politician, Colonial administrator

George Herbert Hyde Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon, KG PC (7 June 1877 – 13 December 1955), styled Lord Hyde from 1877 to 1914, was a British Conservative politician from the Villiers family. He served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa from 1931 to 1937.

Background

Clarendon was the only son of Edward Hyde Villiers, 5th Earl of Clarendon and his wife Lady Caroline Elizabeth Agar, daughter of James Agar, 3rd Earl of Normanton. George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, three times Foreign Secretary, was his grandfather.

Political career

Clarendon took his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords on his father's death in 1914. When Andrew Bonar Law became Prime Minister in 1922 he appointed Clarendon Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (government chief whip in the House of Lords), a position he also held under Stanley Baldwin until January 1924, and again from December 1924 to 1925. He then served as the first Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs until 1927. In 1931 Clarendon was appointed Governor-General of South Africa, in which position he remained until 1937. During his tenure as Governor-General of South Africa, he also served as Chief Scout of South Africa. Clarendon High School for Girls and its associated schools, Clarendon Primary School and Clarendon Preparatory School in East London, South Africa are named after him.

Clarendon was later Lord Chamberlain of the Household between 1938 to 1952. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1931 and made a Knight of the Garter in 1937.

Family

Lord Clarendon married Adeline Verena Ishbel Cocks, daughter of Herbert Haldane Somers Cocks, in 1905.

They had three children:

• George Villiers, Lord Hyde
• (Nina) Joan Villiers, Lady Newman
• (William) Nicholas Villiers. His daughter, Elizabeth, became the first god-daughter of Queen Elizabeth II.

He died in December 1955, aged 78. His eldest son George Villiers, Lord Hyde, had been killed in a shooting accident in 1935; the earldom was inherited by George's son Laurence.

References

• Scouting Round the World, John S. Wilson, first edition, Blandford Press 1959 p. 94

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Clarendon

Political offices
Preceded by The Lord Ranksborough	Lord-in-Waiting 1921 – 1922	New government
Preceded by The Lord Colebrooke	Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms 1922 – 1924	Succeeded by The Earl of Dunmore
Preceded by The Lord Colebrooke and The Lord Hylton	Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords 1922 – 1924	Succeeded by The Lord Muir-Mackenzie
Preceded by The Earl of Dunmore	Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms 1924 – 1925	Succeeded by The Earl of Plymouth
Preceded by The Lord Muir-Mackenzie	Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords 1924 – 1925
New office	Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs 1925 – 1927	Succeeded by The Lord Lovat
Preceded by The Earl of Athlone	Governor-General of South Africa 1931 – 1937	Succeeded by Sir Patrick Duncan
Court offices
Preceded by The Earl of Cromer	Lord Chamberlain 1938 – 1952	Succeeded by The Earl of Scarbrough
Media offices
Preceded by Jack Pease	Chairman of the BBC Board of Governors 1927–1930	Succeeded by John Henry Whitley
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Edward Villiers	Earl of Clarendon 1914 – 1955	Succeeded by George Villiers